Men have different body types, and we men know which type we are. When we compare ourselves with the general population, we know if we’re shorter or taller than most, or about the same height as the majority of men we see. We know if we’re lean or muscular compared to the general male population. If you are purchasing a suit how do you know which one is right for you? I am going to discuss picking the right suit for your body type, a complete guide you can use from finding the perfect suit and having it fit you well, so it looks great on you.
It’s good to know where you fit in the range of body types from very lean to very muscular. You suit communicates your inner self, believe it or not. We’ve all heard the saying, “You are what you eat”, (not true). But it is more accurate to say that “you are what you wear,” or better yet, “the clothes you wear are an expression of you.” This is vague, too, so let’s get a little more specific.
Clothes make an impression upon other people. If someone wears a pair of jeans with a lot of holes in them, and a t-shirt that doesn’t match and is fit loose on the body, giving an unkempt appearance, it sends a signal to others and they form an impression about the poorly dressed person.
Our minds quickly analyze and form dozens of immediate assumptions based simply on the clothes he is wearing. If this man dresses this way, he must be unemployed. Or irresponsible, or untrustworthy, or unintelligent, or a host of other assumptions. Some may be true, but some others probably aren’t: But that’s not the point. Whether the wrong conclusions are drawn about the poorly dressed guy or the right ones, it’s a fact that conclusions have been made, right or wrong.
First impressions are critical if you work in an office and are looking to get ahead, or if you are in sales and you want to make a lot of money and get high commissions. Perhaps you’re in real estate, or new car sales or you work for a big box electronics store. The point is that your peers and your superiors in the office, or the customer looking to buy a house, forms the first impression of you. If they drew the wrong conclusions, it will be very difficult to alter that initial impression. This is why clothes make the man. They have to be right.
Table of Contents
The Three Body Types
Our body type mandates what kind of clothing we wear. In the end, it is more than the style of clothing that each body type should wear; it is also the color of the clothing you wear. Also, the poor choice of clothing and clothing color will make a thinner man look frail, and an overweight man looks even heavier. We will discuss this fact at length.
There are three body types, but there are also people who fall somewhere in between.
Ectomorph
Found on the left side of the spectrum, a man with an ectomorph physique is classified as thin, or skinny. You have a thin figure, and may even appear bony, with little to no muscle mass.
If you are an ectomorph, you are likely tall, and your limbs are long. Your height is due to long legs rather than a long torso. You likely also have large hands and feet.
Ectomorphs have difficulty building muscle mass, even if they regularly work out a few times each week. However, although ectomorphs do not gain muscle mass from working out, they do gain strength from exercising.
You have a hard time gaining any weight if you’re an ectomorph. Your metabolism is racing fast. No matter how much you eat you can’t seem to put on weight.
Your chest is generally flat and unpronounced, and even appears to be concave. Your shoulders are smaller and sometimes rounded.
You like the fact that you don’t gain weight, and you commit to exercising harder than other body types to get the same results.
Mesomorph
Most athletes you know or have heard of have a mesomorphic body. Mesomorphs are athletically built and build muscle mass rather easily. If you’re a mesomorph, you have a natural muscularity. You have a fast metabolism and excellent physical abilities.
Mesomorphs, though muscular, appear to have lean figures, but this makes the muscles of the arms, legs, chest, and abdomen more pronounced. If you wear a shirt that clings to you, it is easy to see the developed biceps, triceps, lats on the back and broader shoulders.
Mesomorphs, though appearing to be lean, in reality, carry around a great deal more weight than an average person. A mesomorph’s metabolism is almost as rapidly as that of an ectomorph, and weight training converts calories from food into muscle mass. This enhances the attractiveness of the body.
Endomorph
Endomorphs generally have rounder bodies. Their waist size is often bigger than their chest size. The arms are shorter, as are the legs; the upper parts of the limbs can be longer than the lower part.
Endomorphs typically have a slower metabolism, so they gain weight easily. They struggle with weight gain and have difficulty losing weight. They also work harder to keep in shape.
However, endomorphs are usually quite strong. They tend to build muscle easily but benefit the most when they do lots of repetitions and sets to build their muscle mass.
Body type is the most important thing to take into consideration when buying a suit. However, the other factor early on is your height. You don’t want a suit that makes you appear shorter than you are, no one that makes you appear heavier than your actual weight.
Buying Your New Suit
I strongly advise that men buy their suits in a brick and mortar store, and not online. It’s okay to purchase jeans, t-shirts, shoes, rugby shirts, dress shirts, khakis, moccasins or any other types of apparel online. Suits are different.
First of all, suits, unlike other clothing articles, will need tailoring. Rarely does a suit fit perfectly when you put it on. Adjustments are normally made in the shoulders, the cuffs, and especially the suits pants. The pants of suits have a hem that has extra fabric material, in case the suit needs to be taken in or let out around the legs.
Suits are the most expensive clothing purchase you will make, so buying online is more or a gamble that you’ll get the right suit for your body type. Some guys buy suits online and get them tailored later on. However, if the suit jacket is too small, there isn’t a way to make it larger. This also is the case for the suit pants. If it is too small, there isn’t more material to make it larger in that area.
Tailors make unique adjustments that are specific to your body type. The length of suit pants on a short person, for example, is shorter than the length of the pants for a larger endomorph body type.
Before buying your new suit, ask yourself what kind of occasion you’ll be wearing the suit. If it is for work, you’ll want to consider investing in about three suits, each a different color. But all of them should fit you the same way and make a striking and positive impression.
If you are buying a suit for a formal party, it’s a more festive occasion than work, so you can be more creative with the colors you choose. If it is for a wedding, the emphasis is on having a good time. But know that people who attend weddings remember you and how good you looked whenever they think back to the reception.
Men today are opting for suits that are made with new, synthetic materials, and the cut of the suit is tight to the body. Fashion in the suit world has changed a lot in the past 15 years, and most of these new styles are geared towards partygoers, and not meant to be worn at work or any solemn occasion like a funeral.
Suits with classic cuts still heavily dominate the market, so we will be discussing them here. There has been an explosion of color options for suits in the last decade and a half. Her eyes a general list of colors available.
Black
Black suits are the most conservative of all suit colors. Black would be worn when you are trying to make an impression at your job. Black resonates with power and authority. People in leadership positions wear black, and color commands respect.
Charcoal
A suit that is charcoal in color communicated to the world that you can be trusted. No matter what your body type is, charcoal goes with it. Your choice of shirt colors increases greatly because charcoal will go with just about any color.
Navy
Navy suits communicated power. Navy is a darker shade of blue and is subdued. Blu, like black, conveys authority, especially when the suit is monochrome navy. Monochrome is recommended for all body types, and we will discuss this and other options next.
The Navy color tells the world that you are an expert at what you do, exercising a calm authority. Navy is recommended for public speaking engagements, presentations at work, and looks impressive on dates.
Getting The Perfect Suit For Your Body Type
Since you’ll be spending hundreds of dollars on your suit, you deserve to have it flatter your appearance and feel great to wear. Your price point for a suit made with quality fabric, hand stitching and a great fit is about $500.00. At this price, you can get most of the same quality found in suits twice the price.
A great fitting suit that adheres to your body type, whether skinny, average and muscular or bigger, will give you more confidence than practically anything else. Watch the way your friends or your acquaintances at work look at you in a suit tailored to your body type. Note especially how women gaze at you, from your head and down to your toes. When you are out on a date wearing a great suit, you are halfway there.
As I wrote earlier, you need to have your suit adjusted by an expert tailor. It is worth his expertise, even if it costs you a little more.
The first thing you must do is to be brutally honest about your body. Acknowledge which places on your body are areas of strength, that are well-formed. If you are thin, you still may have broad shoulders.
Suits for Endomorphs
But then, you must look at those areas where you know you need improvement in. If you have an endomorph body type, you may have excess baggage around the waist, and you may think you need to lose a few pounds. Admit your faults and you’re on your way to the perfect fitting suit. Know also those areas on the body you want the suit to accentuate. The good parts.
A man who is tall and big around the waist will seek out a suit that is roomy across the chest and the shoulders so that your frame fits comfortably when the suit is buttoned. The stomach area will be fitted by the tailor, and it should not be too tight there. The jacket should be longer because of your height, and the sleeves should go right to the wrists. If the jacket is too short, it will bring out your height more, in a way you won’t like.
A suit for a big and tall man should not ever be baggy or oversized. Nor should it be too long. Take the time to get it just right because you want the right fit. Look for wider lapels on the jacket so they’ll be proportionate to your taller size. Make certain the pants strike a balance with the jacket. The pants should not be too long; they should not touch the shoes, and this is what makes the pant cut different than the standard hem, where the bottom of the pants go over the shoes a little. For a big and tall man, it should almost touch your shoes, but not touch.
You might think you’d like to wear a vest and wear a three-piece suit. But the effect is that you appear larger because the vest adds extra bulk to your already bigger frame.
Suits for Mesomorphs
Suit tailoring for Mesomorph body types is completely different than Ectomorph and endomorph bodies. Mesomorphs are generally broader and wider in the chest and shoulders, and the waist is narrower. This body type has a V-shape, which can make it more difficult fitting a suit.
This means that the size of the jacket will be much larger than the pants size, and it is not easy finding a jacket and pants set with this drop in size in the pants. For athletic mesomorphs, it’s recommended to look for matching jackets and pants sold separately, so that the size and fit will be right.
You want enough room in the jacket, but not too much. A jacket that is too large will conceal your body’s natural shape. You want the suit to accentuate your great physical shape, not hide it.
Seek out a suit that is cut slim, but make sure the tailor can still make adjustments. You’ll want more room in the chest area and a lower armhole. Choose a jacket with a medium-sized lapel, or one with a wide width. The lapel will bring out your V-shape.
You want to be able to move around in the suit jacket, even when it is buttoned, so make certain there isn’t too much tightness in the bicep area. If the k jacket can be a slim cut and still allow you room in the arms and chest, the fit will match the smaller sized pants you’ll be wearing with it. Make sure to let the tailor know that you don’t want to look top-heavy, so the taper in the pants should not be too tight, nor too loose. There is a happy medium, and an expert tailor will find it.
Suits for Ectomorphs
The body form of an ectomorph demands that the suit matches the slimness of your body but is not too tight. Veer toward a slim cut suit that has higher armholes but with narrowness in the proportions.
Many thinner men will often buy suits that are too big for their frame, without knowing it. When you put on a jacket that fits but is a little big, go down one size. You will see that this smaller size is the right one for your frame. The fit will be better proportioned.
Look for a wide lapel. This will make your shoulders appear broader and give a sense of more heaviness in the upper body.
The pants should be trim, and the taper should complement your narrower frame. The taper shouldn’t be tight against your legs, nor too loose; loose pants on a thin body only make you look slimmer than you are.
This body type should not have tight-fitting suits or even clothes for that matter. You want the fit to be trim and complementary to the shape of your body. Billowy suits will only make the suit appear too big as if you’re wearing the wrong size. You want your thin frame to look attractive, rather than drawing negative attention to it.
Slimmer men look great wearing vests, so consider buying a three-piece suit.
Suit Shopping For Slimmer Men
Make sure the suit you buy is proportioned correctly. That means that the suit fits close to the shoulders and the chest area. The crotch must leave ample space but not too much. The crotch area should not be too far down the legs. This will give the impression that the suit is not fitted properly to your body.
The sleeves of the suit should be about a half-inch beyond the cuff of the jacket. You will appear taller than the suit jacket and make it appear that the jacket is perfectly fitted to your body.
Make sure the trousers do not bunch up above the shoes. As mentioned earlier, the hem should not touch the top of the shoes.
When you have the suit on, and it has two or three buttons, don’t ever button the bottom button. The bottom button is only there because it makes the suit jacket look elegant. But it is never supposed to be buttoned.
On the other hand, keep the top button done, and buttoned, as much as possible. Suit jackets are designed, from the shoulders to the lapels to the waist, to look best when the top button is buttoned.
Suit Color For Slim Men
Bright colors will accentuate your slim frame. Monochromatic suits, on the other hand, take away from it. No one ever looks questionable in a monochromatic suit. If you’re not sure what to buy, always go with a one-color suit.
However, if you do wish to bring attention to your slimmer frame, bright colors are the answer. Adding to that a handkerchief in the pocket of the jacket creates elegance and amplifies the suit’s brightness.
Remember, if you decide to wear a brightly colored jacket, always wear a darker pair of pants with it. Black is ideal.
When it comes to the suit fabric, avoid lightweight fabrics and always opt for heavier types, such as wool or wool blends. If it is not wool (such as when you are wearing the suit in the summertime), make sure the materials complement the shape of your body.
Cotton and tweed are heavier fabrics, and they both look great on a slimmer guy. These fabrics give the illusion that you are heavier.
Bright colors were made for your body type. Choose a colorful shirt that matches the print and color of your suit. Remember to wear darker colored pants with your brighter jacket.
Make sure to find an expert tailor to adjust the hem and the length of the pants, and to make sure the jacket fits you perfectly. There is nothing more important than getting the fitting right. Look for heavier fabrics. The combination of tweed or cotton heaviness with a snug and proportioned fit will bring you many compliments. Remember this when you’re out on a date. Women love men who have taken the time to get a suit fitted properly to their bodies.
Some Misconceptions About Suits For Bigger Men
Big guys want the suit to be a perfect fit. And it can be. Bigger guys believe that using more suit fabric will cover up bigger waists and bodies. But this is not true. Big guys should wear the smallest size that still makes them comfortable.
Try on one jacket after another and look in the mirror. If the fit is tighter around your body, this is what you want. Smaller sizes make your body appear smaller.
But don’t get the jacket so small that you cannot move around comfortably in it. Look at it, then move around. If it feels too tight, go one size bigger.
Choose a suit with two buttons instead of one. Also, a jacket that breaks lower on the waist is preferable. Try wearing a jacket whose lapel goes down to the first button. The lapel should be between medium and wide.
Pockets that are slanted on the jacket will make a wide torso appear thinner because it leads the eye away from that area. Place a pocket square in one of the slanted pockets, and you’ve just created a very attractive look!
Fitting A Suit To An Athletic Build
Men with mesomorph body types do not need padded shoulders. Instead, ask for natural shoulders in a suit.
Earlier we talked about the mesomorph body type. Athletes have this same shape, but their bodies are different due to their musculature. Because of this, it is more difficult to fit the athletic body type.
Athletes want to look stylish just like anyone else. Wearing a suit is not about showing off a ripped body. The biceps should not bulge out of the sleeves. We don’t want the athlete in a suit looking like The Incredible hulk. He should appear elegant and prestigious, and the proper fitting suit will communicate a ripped body without broadcasting that they are.
Athletes should avoid department stores. They should go to a shop that specializes in men’s formal wear. There are several today that have been around for decades and are experts at fitting all men’s shapes well. Also, tailors work at men’s shops. The tailor is the most important part of buying a suit for a man with an athletic build.
The sleeves of the jacket should extend down to where the wrist meets the hand. Too short a sleeve will make the athlete look apish. The cuff stops at the base of the thumb.
The cuff should be tight enough so that it doesn’t slide up and down the arm, but not too tight. The shirt that you choose to wear with the suit, it should be up to a half-inch off the cuff, but no more.
The suit trousers should contour to the body of the athlete, but not too closely. The upper body of athletes is usually much larger than the bottom, so the pants should be cut close but still be proportional to the wider jacket on top. You don’t want a giant jacket top and tiny, narrow trousers.
Wear the trousers at the waist and not at the hips. Wearing pants at the waist level brings out a smaller waist in proportion to the muscular torso. If pants are worn at the hips, they will bulge and draw attention to that area. Wearing at the waist, on the other hand, makes the athlete appear thinner while making the legs look longer at the same time.
The crotch area should be high, as high as possible while still being comfortable. This will give the legs definition. If the crotch is high, the legs will appear to be longer, but remember that you must be comfortable, so find the right balance. You’ll know it’s right when the pockets remain flat at the hips.
Try both plain cut and pleated cut trousers to see which looks best on you. Pleats are dressier and more attractive-looking on pants. Pleats serve a function as well – the hips widen with the extra fabric of the pleats, making sitting much more comfortable. Make sure to get the right fit with pleats. You will know it’s correct when you stand up and the pleats close. The pleats shouldn’t open when standing.
Athletic men are muscular, and they look best in double-breasted suit jackets. This type of jacket is costlier, but athletically built men pull off the look better than ectomorphs or endomorphs. Double-breasted jackets are the top of fashion 70 years ago, but single-breasted suits become more popular because they were less expensive to make.
In conclusion, men today, of any body type, can look fantastic in a suit. Modern technology and the new fabrics, as well as the improvements in tailoring virtually guarantee that anyone can find what they want.
Larger and taller men wear tighter suits, and this will make them appear thinner. Slim men should also wear tighter suits, but they want to accentuate their shoulders and the hem of the trousers should be proportional to the jacket. Athletic men, when they find the right suit, will reveal their bodies without showing it off.
All three body types should have their suits tailored, and they should buy their suits at a men’s shop that specializes in formal clothing. Men wearing the right suit will feel a jolt of confidence go through them and will be admired by their friends and associates.